title: PCR to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in respiratory tract samples: evaluation of clinical data.
abstract: Tuberculosis (TB) remains as an important public health problem worldwide. Therefore, the rapid detection of M. tuberculosis is of primary importance to effectively reduce transmission in patients. The aims of this study were to evaluate two in-house molecular tests: nested PCR (nPCR) and real-time PCR (rtPCR) to detect M. tuberculosis complex directly from clinical samples. The results were compared to the culture results and to the culture results plus clinical data of patients. The rtPCR and nPCR presented high sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) (rtPCR 97·6% and 91·5%, nPCR 85·7% and 92·7%, respectively) compared to culture. When the results of the molecular tests were compared to the culture plus clinical data the Se and Sp were 90·2% and 97·3% for rtPCR and 80·4% and 98·6% for the nPCR, respectively. The results demonstrated that molecular assays of M. tuberculosis can provide a sensitive and rapid diagnostic of TB, and when used in addition to the clinical data of TB patients will help to improve the Sp of the diagnosis of pulmonary TB.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Farmácia,Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS),Porto Alegre,Brazil.
authors.forename: F P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Rozales
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Microbiologia e Biologia Molecular,Serviço de Patologia Clínica, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre,Brazil.
authors.forename: A B M P
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Microbiologia e Biologia Molecular,Serviço de Patologia Clínica, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre,Brazil.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Paris
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Service,Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre,Porto Alegre,Brazil.
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Zavascki
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Farmácia,Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS),Porto Alegre,Brazil.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Barth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058889:Molecular Typing / Q000379:methods; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology